INSS ‘graduates’ Luke Galvin and Eoin McKeon recorded strong performances in the 53rd running of the biennial Newport Bermuda Race which finished earlier this week.
Bowman on OC86, a Maxz86, Luke was second across the finish line in the early hours of June 24th, with a corrected time of 2 days, 12 hours and 18 minutes, giving the Oakcliff Sailing crew a fourth place in the leading Gibbs Hill Lighthouse division for crews with professional sailors on board. Eoin’s JV66 Temptation came across the line in sixth position later on Monday, posting a corrected time of 2 days, 19 hours and 29 minutes.
The event is known as ‘the Thrash to the Onion Patch” because most Bermuda Races include high winds and big seas, and Bermuda was an agricultural island. However, the 2024 event enjoyed gentler sailing conditions, although two boats were abandoned en route because of water ingress. Their crews were safely transferred to other competing vessels.
“Going through the Gulf Stream, it gets pretty uncomfortable,” said Luke, “particularly on the bigger boats because you have a lot of smaller waves close together, and the 86 was basically slamming up and down through them for a long period. But it was still more comfortable than two years ago.”
INSS's Luke Galvin on completion of his second Newport to Bermuda Race Photo: Newport to Bermuda Race/Stephen R Cloutier
“We were tracking pretty close to the leading boat, Roy Disney’s Pyewacket 70, but she got home just about an hour ahead of us in the end. One piece of equipment failure on the run down probably cost us dearly as it took us out of action for a while.”
Established in 1906, the first Bermuda Race was born out of frustration with existing race rules. At the time, the leading yacht club committees believed that it would be insane for amateur sailors to race offshore in boats under 80 feet. The editor of The Rudder magazine, Thomas Fleming Day, disagreed, insisting that “The danger of the sea for generations has been preached by the ignorant.” He wanted an offshore race that would be enjoyable and safe, while developing better sailors and better boats. The critics predicted disaster for the three entries to that 1906 race – it was rumored that funeral wreaths were delivered to the boats (all under 40 feet) so the sailors could receive “a decent burial” at sea. All three survived in a race won by Fleming Day himself, and this year’s event attracted 162 entries.
“The start of the race this year was just magic,” said Eoin. “The sun was shining, we had a nice breeze and there was an estimated 4,000 people watching from the shore at Fort Adams.
It’s just such a buzz to set out at the head of a large fleet in those conditions.”
The two young sailors, who learned their craft at the INSS in Dun Laoghaire’s Coal Harbour, are now targeting their next prize. “Sailors who have completed the race five times can become members of the Gulf Stream Society,” said Luke. “It takes a decade to get to that level but we’re now two down and three to go!”
